I quickly wrote this out and wanted to have it posted so I can never go back on my own word. I wanted to share this with everyone as well as it may interest you or spark your own little life goal as well.

“It is the eve of my 26th birthday. My gift to myself is going to be tea. You are going to think I am crazy but hear me out. I already have tea, I drink it and enjoy it. Although for the last few months I have lost my passion for it. On the way home I was reading a book by a Urasenke master and he described how tea is a way of life. I had already learned about this from many books before but it just seemed more fresh from his written words.

Chanoyu or The Way of Tea is a way of life. Everything in the tea room relates back to life itself. The four virtues are very important, especially now in such a technological society. What I am trying to explain is that I want to live by these virtues.

Over the next 4 years I will be focusing on one virtue at a time, while learning and striving to live by them all. But by focusing on one at time for a years length I can truly live through tea.

To devote myself I am going to post these virtues at my home, my work and eventually tattoo (one at a time) on my body; as reminders of how important these are to my daily life. I have been such a scatter brain, over spender; thoughtless, unforgiving, unloving etc the list is endless. I wish to be a true human being through tea with use of these virtues.

I depart for a work/vacation and will keep these virtues close to my heart each day of the two weeks. But as of now I will live as I have wanted to. I am taking back tea which I lost and bringing it back in to my life as I once had.

Ichi no Ichi- I cannot let a moment pass by without realizing how important each moment is.”

Yesterday I got my first tattoos. It’s amazeing how much it reminds you how human you are as it is done. The one line needs to be retouched already but It’s best to wait a while. I am going to work on a new banner for this blog along side with my girlfriend over at Ruin and Rebirth. Please look forward to the new look of Tea Journey. A special Chinese New Year post is coming up. I’m off to work now, till then, Ja ne.

Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity (roughness or irregularity), simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes.

a variant and derivatives: traditional Chinese: 無為; simplified Chinese: 无为; pinyin: wú wéi; Japanese: 無為; Korean: 무위;Vietnamese: Vô vi) is an important concept of Taoism (Daoism), that involves knowing when to act and when not to act. Another perspective to this is that “Wu Wei” means natural action – as planets revolve around the sun, they “do” this revolving, but without “doing” it; or as trees grow, they “do”, but without “doing”. Thus knowing when (and how) to act is not knowledge in the sense that one would think “now” is the right time to do “this“, but rather just doing it, doing the natural thing.

Wu may be translated as not have or without; Wei may be translated as do, act, serve as, govern or effort. The literal meaning of Wu Wei is “without action”, “without effort”, or “without control”, and is often included in the paradox wei wu wei: “action without action” or “effortless doing”. The practice of wu wei and the efficacy of wei wu wei are fundamental tenets in Chinese thought and have been mostly emphasized by the Taoist school. The aim of wu wei is to achieve a state of perfect equilibrium, or alignment with the Tao, and, as a result, obtain an irresistible form of “soft and invisible” power.

There is another less commonly referenced sense of wu wei; “action that does not involve struggle or excessive effort”. In this instance, Wu means “without” and Wei means “effort”. The concept of “effortless action” is a part of TaoistInternal martial arts such as T’ai chi ch’uan, Baguazhang andXing Yi. It follows that Wu wei complies with the main feature and distinguishing characteristic of Taoism, that of being natural. To apply wu wei to any situation is to take natural action.